Taking the vaporetto to Venice International Airport

Day 11

First thing in the morning, we headed to the Rialto Market—a big fish market. From the various types of seafood we saw there and all kinds of innards we saw in Florence’s Mercato Centrale, it seemed that Italians would eat anything just like the Chinese. After the market survey, we window shopped all the way to St. Mark’s Square, which was literally full of people and pigeons. With Rick’s brilliant tip we skipped the long line (legally!) of St. Mark's Basilica. It was another huge and famous church, but by this time we had probably lost our appetite for churches… In the afternoon we went next door to Doge's Palace and later to the Correr Museum. It was a perfect escape from the searing sun outside. We also experienced a prisoner’s view from the Bridge of Sighs when passing over to the ancient prison. This busy day ended perfectly with pub-crawling (sampling cicchetti-- tapas-likes small dishes, in different bars) and enjoying the ‘dueling orchestras’ on St. Mark’s Square.

Rialto Market

St. Mark's Square

Doge's Palace

View from the Correr Museum

Day 12

We trotted over more than half of Venice. All morning and part of the afternoon, we wandered in Dorsoduro and San Polo, passing by Santa Maria della Salute, the Accademia, Frari Church, San Rocco Church, Guggenheim Museum, etc, but we decided to spend our time admiring Venice’s view from the outside: canals of all sizes, cute bridges, somewhat scary mask shops, colorful souvenir shops, galleries, and countless restaurants. In the late afternoon we took a vaporetto (waterbus), touring the Grand Canal from the train station all the way to St. Mark’s Square—the most cost-efficient way to enjoy the canal views. At dusk we went up to the top of the Campanile, to take in Venice’s view from high above. In the evening we enjoyed St. Mark Square’s orchestra from Café Chioggia, and ended the day by taking a quiet vaporetto ride in the dark on the Grand Canal.

Santa Maria della Salute

Strolling in Dorsoduro and San Polo

Touring the Grand Canal by Vaporetto

Day 13

This was our field trip day—we took a vaporetto to both Murano and Burano, islands about 1hr from Venice. In Murano we visited their glass factories (Murano is famous for their glass decorations) while in Burano we admired their traditional lace-making techniques as well as their cute pastel colored houses. After returning to Venice, we strolled along Riva Degli Schiavoni by the lagoon, and later discovered a little shop called Le Perie del Doge, selling handmade Murano glass jewelry and Venetian masks. The owner Domenico made a glass bead out of a stick of glass right in front of our eyes, while his fiancé Barbara was covering a mask with thin copper foil. We stayed there watching and chatting (and exchanging facebook accounts!) for an hour, which was a lot of fun and even rewarding-- they suggested a restaurant for locals, and our extravagant (and cheap!) 7+ course dinner surely put an exclamation mark to our last evening in Venice/Italy.

Murano & Burano

Day 14

Rick suggested that no one can visit Venice without being lost. Determined to be different, Ernie totally mastered it and we indeed never got lost during our entire stay. At the same time, Amy still enjoyed the fun of wandering aimlessly (while Ernie kept an eye on her). What was left this day was to take a vaporetto straight to Venice International Airport (arriving by boat, like a celebrity!). We passed through many cute canals along the way and Amy couldn’t stop snapping final photos. Venice is truly romantic and unforgettable, and a perfect ending to our trip in Italy.